“Never has street art been so romanticised and the artists’ works so highly sought-after.”
Author: ArtsJournal2
What Does The Shutdown Of MegaUpload Mean For Other ‘Cyberlockers’? (Not A Lot, Probably)
“Not so long ago, the industry was upset about kids moving 3 megabyte MP3s around on Napster. Today, it’s common to see 35 gigabyte compilations of, say, seven seasons of the TV show House, all conveniently bundled together. (Note that that’s ten thousand times bigger.)”
Tilda Swinton Talks About ‘We Need to Talk About Kevin’
Swinton says her character is “living this life that is so isolated and so self-determined within which you get the sense that there is no place for chaos. This is a recipe for disaster. If you’re going to encounter becoming a parent, if you’re not up for a bit of chaos, let alone a lot of chaos – and I speak as the mother of twins – then you are riding a kind of really dangerous horse.”
Rethinking Urban Renewal And Its Successes (That’s Right: Successes)
“In the national war on blight, the poor were disproportionately targeted for eviction from dilapidated downtowns to make way for parks, office buildings, sports arenas, and high-rise apartments. But a new study for the National Bureau of Economic Research finds that urban renewal, or slum clearance, had some lasting positive effects on economic growth.”
Speaking Of Towers, Seville’s In Trouble As Well
London’s sites aren’t the only ones in danger of losing their heritage: In Seville, “the half-built Pelli tower is casting a growing shadow across one of the country’s most-visited cities and over a cluster of 13th-century buildings which have been designated a world heritage site by Unesco.”
The Shard May Kill Heritage At The Tower Of London
“Unesco may soon strip London’s two most prominent tourist sites, Westminster’s Parliament Square and the Tower of London in the City of their world heritage status. Chief reason is the towering Shard, which will be western Europe’s tallest building, now looming over both of them from its launch pad on the south side of London Bridge.”
Ellsworth Kelly At 88: Still Colorful, Still Painting, Still Abstract
“Ellsworth has been fearless in his commitment to the limitless possibilities of abstraction,” said James Cuno, chief executive and president of the J. Paul Getty Trust in Los Angeles. … “With concentrated imaginative power he has made some of the most beautiful and important paintings of the Modernist era. And he is at the height of his powers, not elegiac but ecstatic, filled with the wonder of seeing the world afresh.”
Points For Pliés: Turning Dance Into A Game
“Holding your balance 3 seconds longer awards you a level 2 ‘Master of Balance’ achievement trophy. Getting this virtual trophy unlocks a side quest that challenges you to do three double pirouettes in a row, which, if successful, gets you a clothing upgrade for your avatar.”
Music, The Wonder Drug (Music-Lovers Are Not Surprised)
“The practical applications of music for healing are irresistible. Cutting-edge music therapy can help Parkinson’s patients walk, enables the autistic to rehearse their emotions and provides opportunities for stroke victims to regain speech and motor movement. Music is usually the last thing Alzheimer’s sufferers recognize. It is our final way to communicate with them, and now it seems music can play a significant role in forestalling Alzheimer’s.”
Apple, That’s No Revolution (And The Magic’s Gone, Too)
“See, you can’t really say that you’re going to ‘change everything’ when it comes to textbooks and announce that your partners are the 3 companies who already control 90% of the textbook market. You can’t say that you’re going to disrupt the textbook industry by going digital when Pearson — one of those big 3 and, indeed, the largest educational company in the world — made over $3 billion from digital content last year alone.”